HAPPY NEW YEAR !

A LITTLE WHIMSY TO END THE YEAR ...

'WATCH OUT BOYS ... THERE'S A NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN'

6 x 6 x 1.5" Mixed Media Collage on Canvas

For more information on this piece Please Click HERE

Cloud of the Day ...

I have to admit ... this one is a little hard to see.  But, I do see a Cat, lying down with its tail up in the air.  :)   There are a lot of formations in this photo so you may do better than me.  

I want to say Thank you to everyone for your support this last year.  It's so great having friends 'out there' ... some of whom I've never met.  I want to wish you all a most 

HEALTHY AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

TIL NEXT YEAR ...

CHARLEEN

" Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions.                        Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual."                                                                                                  ~  Mark Twain

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS ...

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS .... ... And all through the house, the dogs lay content, but ... the power is out! Still presents to wrap, Blog to write. Will it all get done? I am beginning to doubt. The computer won't work, the snow's getting deep. But ... the fireplace glows and I'm warmed by the heat. As I put pencil to paper and start to write, I give thought to the fact that I am safe on this night. More fortunate than many, I give Thanks for the gifts ... of Family and Friends, and Freedom of Faith. I give Thanks ... that I am able to give Thanks.

MAY THIS HOLIDAY SEASON BRING YOU THE GIFTS OF FAMILY, GOOD FRIENDS AND GOOD HEALTH. MERRY CHRISTMAS! Charleen (If you also receive my Newsletter than I apologize because you will have already seen this.  But, Time is short and I am literally all 'wrapped up' in Christmas!  :)  Please consider it 'Double the Wishes!)

INTO THE COLD OF WINTER ...

SO ... LET'S SNUGGLE IN TO WINTER.

'SNUGGLE IN TO WINTER'

5 x 7" Acrylic on Textured Wood Panel

For more Information on this Piece Please Click HERE

And, another Cloud formation  for you ....

We were on our way to town after a week of VERY heavy rains.  That little bit of blue peeking out was just such a welcome site.  What I see here are two gruff rain trolls trying to stare down one another.  But, while they are trying to out-do each other, the little blue sky slips silently past them and takes over the sky.

  Moral of the story:  Blue skies are always there for us.  Sometimes we just have to wait for them to get past the turbulence.  :)  

Charleen

HOLDING ON TO FADED DREAMS ...

Most times when I drive by an abandoned home or business I often think to myself  "I wonder whose dream that was? What were they like?  What did they envision?  What made them give up on it? Was it a dream fulfilled or a dream lost?"  Answers I'll never know but interesting to think about.  Interesting to make up my own stories.  

This is from a photo I saw.  It immediately caught my attention and the house made me think of dreams now gone.   I changed a few things but hopefully still kept the feeling of what once was ...

'HOLDING ON TO FADED DREAMS'

5 x 7" Acrylic on Wood Panel

For more information on this Piece Please Click HERE

My head is in the clouds . . .

If you read my second post on Las Vegas you will remember that I posted several Cloud photos I took.  I love Clouds and, as a child, like most of you I'm sure, had fun finding all kinds of wonderful things up there in the sky.  We've had some storms here in the last week and some of the Cloud formations have been stunning.  I had this crazy idea and thought it might be fun to post a Cloud photo each time I do a Post.  If you are familar with the Blog 'The Accidental Artist' (Carrie Jacobsen ~ a very good Palette knife Artist.) then you know she posts a 'Dog of the Day' at the end of each of her Blogs.  Well, obviously I'm not going to do a Dog of the day ~ that idea is taken.  So, I thought a cloud of the day might work and you can have fun seeing what you see. (Or not! :)  Maybe they'll just be inspiration.  So here is the first one and, would you believe it ... I see a Dog!  :)  A Golden Retriever to be exact.  (Sorry, couldn't help myself, but he was right there!!)  Can you find it?

“Some dreams fade away like a current in a stream. Others burn like a light that won't burn out no matter what life throws at you. That's when a dream turns itself into a vision and a true vision won't die”     ~ Scott Coner

CHARLEEN

6 P.M. AND THE NIGHT PEEKS IN ...

A new Painting done on Textured Canvas.  I love working on the Texture ~ especially for landscapes.  I think it adds a lot of dimensionality (word?) to the paintings.  There is a slight problem though if you want to reproduce your work. The Texture doesn't always photograph very well so reproducing those pieces can be a problem. Or, I guess, no problem at all if it just doesn't look good!  If you saw my Blog introducing my Tote Bags (and Shower Curtains and Throw Pillows! :) you'll notice I just have one piece that was done on a Textured Background.  It's called 'Summer Afternoon in Blue'  (http://fineartamerica.com/featured/summer-afternoon-in-blue-charleen-martin.html) I felt that one worked but most others, not.

'6 P.M. AND THE NIGHT PEEKS IN'

10 x 10" Acrylic on Textured Canvas

For more information on this Piece Please click Here:

http://charleenmartinfineart.com/workszoom/1929965

Looking through my Windshield . . .

And yes, this actually is looking through my windshield!  :)  I took this the other morning when the temperature was about 13 degrees.  I was looking through the ice crystals on my windshield at the tree line by my home.  Just goes to prove we don't have to look very far to see the Beauty in Nature.   :)  

It's a strange world of language 

in which skating on thin ice can get you into hot water.

~ Franklin P. Jones

Charleen

THE LAST OF VEGAS . . .

I slipped in my Blog about my Tote Bags before I published this Blog ~ the last I had promised about our recent trip to Las Vegas.  This will be more interesting to some of the Artists out there only because it is all about the Sky.  :)  There are beautiful Skies out there everywhere but I was able to get photos of some I thought beautiful and in some cases, unusual.  Thought they might make some good reference photos or just spark an idea . . .

If you are not an Artist but like to 'see what you can see' in the clouds, then Please have some fun!

Next time I will get down to business again and will have some Artwork to show you!  :)

The sky, a perfect empty canvas, offers clouds nonetheless. They shift and drift and beg interpretation ... such is the nature of art. 

                                                                        ~ Jeb Dickerson,

Charleen